The Last Handmaiden
by Europa22
Summary: Telos has become a desolate planet with only a small region for living. The forest region gives life to the people, while the fire region, and the snow region take it away. A Handmaiden is in this region and her life changes when she meets the exile.
1. Chapter 1

The Last of the Handmaidens Left strike … Lunge... Left strike… Right strike… Lunge … Right strike…

"Sister, you need to get over here now! Astaal wants us right now! There has been some disturbance on top of the academy!"

She knew to never interrupt when I practiced my fighting. She ran off quickly. How could anyone know about the academy? It was hidden in a mountain after all. Not that it was a real academy. It was just where Astaal, the historian, decided to keep her secrets. Everyone wanted the secrets of the Embassy now days. The Embassy used to be a group of people with special powers that used them to keep the peace. Sadly, the only reason they wanted the secrets was because the embassy had fallen around a decade ago. It was precious information.

It was probably just a hiker anyways. That is the only reason why people came to the Snow Region was to hike but I always wonder why people want to hike through miles of blizzards and mountains. I would rather much spend my time in the Water Region, Forest Region, or even the forsaken Fire Region. I hate this endless snow. I might as well go and help. That is what we handmaidens do after all. Follow Astaal's commands. I don't remember when my sisters and I came into service for Astaal as I was very young. The reason that we even had to become handmaidens was because our parents had died in the Great War. My sisters despised me so much that they referred to me as the "Last of the Handmaidens" and I have come to accept that title over the years. I really wished my sisters didn't despise me so much. It was not my fault that events came to pass as they did.

By the time I made it to the control room all my sisters were standing by the emergency entrance. "He is coming through here!" my sisters whispered. Another thing that makes me feel excluded is that they always speak in unison. All of the sudden, the door opened and a man walked in. He was tall, strong, and looked like he would kill you without a second thought.

"Put down your weapons and you shall not be harmed." They stated. He put them down cautiously. "Now we will escort you to our mistress."

They left without saying a word to me but that was expected. They never acknowledged my existence unless they had to. I went to the Council Room and waited. They took him to the Room of Mirrors, most likely to have Astaal confront. For some reason I wanted to see him again. I could hear words every now and then. Things like "traitor" or "betrayal". When he finally came out everything clicked. I remember the stories Astaal told me about him.

"You are the exile. The one Astaal warned us about." I said, more to myself than anyone else.

He stopped. Then he turned. The way he looked at me gave me goose bumps "Are you one of the handmaidens?" I nodded. He continued, "What did Astaal say about me?"

"She said you betrayed the Embassy by going to war when it was forbidden of you. You turned on your superiors, your teachings, and yourself."

Betraying the Embassy was beyond terrible. There was only one way to betray the Embassy, solving a problem with violence. When you betrayed the Embassy, you were exiled.

"Oh she is just teasing! I'm really not that bad of a guy." A smile came across his face. A smile that made my heart skip a beat.

"Astaal says you fell into darkness in the Great War because you gave into your lust for battle. Once you tasted war, you could not stop."

"Anything else she said about me?" His smirk remained. If anyone else had given me that kind of smirk, I would've snapped their neck. I could not muster up the proper amount of anger or bitterness for some reason.

"I believe that is the extent of her feelings toward you, but without seeing Astaal and you fight, I cannot say. Battle is a pure form of expression. It is heart and discipline, reduced to movement and motion."

"I do not wish to fight Astaal." His brow furrowed as he said this.

"Ah but in battle, the words are swept away, giving way to actions; mercy, sacrifice, anger, and fear. These are pure moments of expression." He thought about this for what seemed like hours. "I would like to ask you a question," He suddenly asked.

"You may ask," I said. What else was I going to say?

"Astaal said something about all seven of the handmaidens being sisters, but you look different from the other women here." This sudden observation made me want to cry. I guess I would look a little different. We all had white hair and blue eyes, but I had whiter skin and much higher cheekbones. I also was a lot shorter than my sisters. So instead of running away, I told him the truth.

"I honor the face of my mother. It is not something spoken of in the company of others."

I do honor my mother but why must my father have had to go have an illicit affair with a warrior during the war, instead of being with the woman whom he was married to. After I was born both my parents were killed in the war. Shortly afterwards my sister's mother died. I'm sure she died of shame and I was the living proof of it.

"I apologize. Is it a sensitive subject?"

"No it is not a sensitive subject, but a subject that requires trust. There is no such trust between you and I, and such trust takes time to ripen and then flourish."

"Thank for your time. I believe I must go."

He started to leave but he suddenly fell over. Fell over dead. I couldn't believe it. One moment I was talking with him and the next moment he was dead! I felt something inside of me break, something that I had never truly felt in my life. I felt heartbreak. I don't know how I fell in love with this man within one conversation but I did. Then so much anger came on that my vision tinted into the color of velvet red. Astaal did this. I stormed into the Room of Mirrors. There they were, those wretched murderers sitting there as if they did nothing.

"Is the exile dead?" Astaal said with so much complete normality that I thought my head might just pop off.

I could not look at these murderous harpies, let alone live with them. I wasn't going to wait for an explanation. Of course, I didn't want them dead either. I would put them in shock so I could finally leave this stupid academy. Astaal never let us leave nor would she in the f

Somehow Astaal anticipated and blocked my move. She nodded with her head towards me. My "sisters" came towards me. I knew that they had wanted to kill me for a long time. They thought they were more skilled then me, but they were wrong. I took all six of them down in a matter of minutes. Then I went straight for Astaal. It was a treacherous battle but she got the best of me. "How dare you betray me? I took you in since you were born! I was the only thing standing in the way of your death that would have been brought upon by your sisters!"

My response was to spit in her direction.

She looked horrified and then something extremely odd happened. Her eyes turned completely red. The next thing I knew was pain, unbelievable, indescribable pain. All I knew is that I wanted death but it wasn't going to come. She was torturing me. This could have gone on for years, decades, or centuries but all sense of time was gone as well. Then, in some miraculous way, it stopped. She was on her hands and knees gasping for breath. I turned around and there was the exile, completely unharmed.

"I thought you were dead!" She moaned.

""Die, no—became stronger, yes."

He had an unreadable emotion on his face, but I interpreted it as anger. Then a strange blue beam came out of his hand and Astaal perished.

"How are you still alive?" I asked.

"I was trained by the Embassy to resist poison. I guess Astaal's memory was fading. The real question is are you alright? "

"I am unharmed, but now I realize something. I am not a person created out of shame. I was created out of love, a love that had no right to exist, but love all the same. I am no longer the Last of the Handmaidens. I am Brianna and I will follow you anywhere, Exile.


	2. Chapter 2

The Last Handmaiden

Apparently following him everywhere meant through mountains of dangerous animals and ludicrously cold temperatures. After we had properly buried Astaal's and the handmaiden's bodies, he told me where we would be going.

"We are going to the Fire Region?!?!?! I do not find your humor amusing," I stated coldly.

"That's because I'm not being humorous." He winked and started to pick up his pack.

"Why are we even going to that place? It has only a few colonies and even they are in danger every second of the day."

He just stared at me with that oh-get-over-it look.

"But the Fire Region is on the other side of this land! Not only that the distance is miles of endless nothing but we have no transportation to take."

"Then I guess we are going on foot. We are leaving in twenty minutes. Pack your bags because I'm leaving whether you're ready or not."

This man infuriated me! I stormed off to my chambers and slammed the door. What would I take? All I had was my training clothes, my mother's robes, my father's staff, and my anti-freezing suit. Well there wasn't much deliberating on what to bring at least. I changed into my suit and walked back to meet the exile.

He was already in his suit by the time I got there and we departed without a word. It was harsh. Though I couldn't feel the cold bitter wind, it pushed against me with such force that I thought I might just go flying into outer space. The exile was patient and stayed by my side, even though I could tell he was doing just fine and could probably run the entire way to the Fire Region. I turned on the comlink and he gave me earlier.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Of course," he stated.

"Why are we headed to that place? You never answered me earlier."

"We're going there because that is where my ship is."

That's a nice surprise. At least now we are not going to be stuck on this planet. "Exile, may I ask another question?" He didn't answer. I took this as a confirmation. "Why did you come to the academy? More importantly, why did you come to this planet?"

"I really don't know why I came," he answered, "I just felt it was the right thing to do. I feel as if the force brought me here for a reason."

I stopped. "What is this 'Force' you speak of?"

"You don't know what the force is. What did Astaal teach you in that good for nothing place?"

"The handmaidens were servants and were not allowed to see any of Astaal's records. The only thing we were allowed to see was fighting exercises and techniques so that if danger ever came we would be ready for it." I couldn't see his facial expression but by his stance I could tell he was very confused.

"So Astaal didn't even train you or anything, but I could tell from the moment I meet you that you were able…" His voice trailed off for a few moments but then he started walking again. "Sorry but I can't really explain all that well what the force really is. Maybe Kreia can explain it. She is really good at these things." I ran to catch up with him

"Who is Kreia? Is she perhaps your mate?" I really hoped he couldn't hear the disappointment and jealousy in my voice.

"KREIA!?!?! Ha, no way! She is at least seven centuries old. No she is my master, the one who taught me the ways in the force.

Much relief swept through me at that moment. "Oh, is she the only traveler on your ship?"

"Nah, there is also T3-M4 and Bao-Dur. You think I could travel alone with that crazy old kook."

"For having her as a master, you certainly do not show much appreciation or respect."

"Yeah well our relationship is hard to describe but we get along ok." I was going to try to go deeper into the matter but then a giant ice cat came and attacked us. The exile drew his light saber ready to strike but I ran to him.

"Stop!"

"What are you doing?" I motioned him to silence. I slowely walked up to the creature. I had ran across this thing before. If it ejected it's spikes it would kill me in a matter of seconds. But if I could get up to it and befriend it, then it would be a great value. I counted my paces. One..two…three…four.. I could see the exile motioning me to come back but it was now or never. I reached out to stroke its back. It started to hiss but then it felt my hand upon it's skin. It then started to purr. I knew we had transportation.

After we had got settled on the great beast and we started riding, he asked in amazement, "How did you do that?"

"Ice cats are very protective but if you show you are no threat then they are as friendly as any pet."

"Yes but there as big as a basilisk!" I didn't respond. It was just nice to ride in silence. It was also very enjoyable to feel his stone hard muscels while I was holding on for dear life. Finally the day darkened and we found a cave. The ice cat fell asleep instanatniously and the exile started a fire. He heated up some weird paste food that strangely tasted like meat. After we finshed our "meal" he brought out his blanket and set it up as a bed. Just as he was getting ready to snuggle into it he noticed I was just standing in the corner.

"Well where is yours?" he asked.

"At the academy we had not need for such things. We never left remember, but do not be alarmed because I hear Ice cats make nice heated bedspread."

"You will not sleep out in that storm with something that could roll over and squish you like a bug. Here I'll make some room." He scooted over and patted a place on the bed for me.

I was hesitant but it did look inviting. After he fell asleep, I thought he made a VERY nice blanket.

_Sorry this chapter Is so short. Not that you care or that anyone is reading this for that matter but I just have a bunch of tests these next few weeks and A TON OF SCIENCE HOMEWORK and I really did not want to leave you without a story (again if there is even a "you" reading this haha). Again thanks for reading._


End file.
